In typical DIY fashion, Shoplifting’s eight track MIXTAPE combines genre, inspiration, and sound to carve out a special place in the online music ecosystem. However, Jamie Penn (Shoplifting) has managed to do more than that. The project is the accidental amalgamation of time spent in London’s scene and a self-admitted obsession with Philadelphia music— the result is mathy, gritty, and beautiful.
I got an email from Jamie in December containing a Bandcamp link to download an unfinished version of MIXTAPE. He thought we’d be “interested in this new sound from the other side of the pond lol,” citing John Peterson’s review of infinity signature as a point of reference. Jamie was right. MIXTAPE transitions from shoegaze to rap, soft to skramz-y, and London to Philadelphia all in 17 minutes. After the project’s release, I gave Jamie a call to discuss all things Shoplifting. Below is some of our conversation.
What type of stuff are you into? What got you into this sound?
I’ve always been a fan of shoegaze. Bands like Nothing, Ringo Death Star, that type of stuff. I’m from Reading, where slowdive is from. Growing up, the record stores would play them nonstop, and I eventually got into them. After that, the internet and the Spotify algorithms led me to the TAGABOW/A Country Western split, which is so sick. I had no clue there was this entire scene in this one city where you all make similar music.
Yeah, it’s pretty sick right now. What’s the London scene like?
The Windmill is this place where bands like Black County, New Road and black midi started, it’s kind of like a rite of passage in London. It’s pretty much where the scene is. There’s a few spots where people play, but if you think about how big London is, you’d think there would be more. You pretty much rotate around the same four venues.
Are there house shows? Do people even have basements?
There’s no house parties where someone’s got a drum kit in their basement. That’s my dream. Something like an Algernon Cadwallader live video from 2011. Everyone here lives in apartments and you’ll get a noise complaint after ten.
It’s cool that you’re so into the Philly scene. I feel like people here would be surprised by that.
It’s funny, I met this girl from Philly at a pub in London and she was surprised that I’m like, saving up to go. I told her if I ever go to America I’m going straight to Philly. She was like “Philly? You could go to New York, you could go to LA…” I really just wanna go to a basement in Philly.
